Bioenergetics is how living systems turn food into usable energy (ATP) and CO₂. Health tracks mitochondrial efficiency: high ATP and CO₂ from burning glucose, with barriers and hormones working from that energy base.[1]

Cellular energy metabolism is the basis for maintaining the barrier functions. Energy depletion causes the endothelial cells lining blood vessels to become excessively permeable.

— Ray Peat[2]

Albert Szent-Györgyi and Hans Selye sit behind the frame: cell energy and state set how hormones and nutrients act. Fixed lock-and-key receptors alone miss that field.[3]

Efficient burn vs stress burn

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Efficient: glucose → CO₂ + water + abundant ATP. Supports: thyroid, low PUFA, low endotoxin.

Stress: glycolysis → lactic acid; high free fatty acids. Drivers: cortisol, estrogen, endotoxin, serotonin. See Randle cycle, Free fatty acids, Mitochondria.

Sugar oxidation makes more CO₂ than fat oxidation and protects proteins.[4]

Oxidation of sugar is metabolically efficient in many ways, including sparing oxygen consumption. It produces more carbon dioxide than oxidizing fat does, and carbon dioxide has many protective functions, including increasing Krebs cycle activity and inhibiting toxic damage to proteins.

— Ray Peat[5]

Uncoupling and heat

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In mitochondria, fuel oxidation is normally coupled to ATP. Uncoupling lets oxidation run with less ATP. Pathological uncoupling from PUFA damage wastes fuel and suppresses respiration enzymes.[6]

Thyroid (T3) and aspirin raise uncoupling in a directed way: sugar that would become lactate is burned toward CO₂ instead. Small mammals with highly uncoupled mitochondria show long life for their size in that literature.[6] A study tracking individual outbred mice found the most metabolically intense quartile had 17% higher resting oxygen consumption and greater mitochondrial proton leak, yet lived 36% longer than the least intense quartile.[7] Heat production is a feature of that high-throughput oxidative state, tied to thyroid and CO₂.

Hormones from energy

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Steroid hormones (pregnenolone, progesterone, cortisol, androgens) come from cholesterol. Conversion needs thyroid, vitamin A, and oxidative capacity. Low energy and low thyroid leave cholesterol high as conversion fails. See Cholesterol, Progesterone, Thyroid.

Central organs and signals: thyroid sets metabolic rate; progesterone and pregnenolone protect against catabolic stress; estrogen and serotonin push stress metabolism; CO₂ and sugar stabilize the efficient side.

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Free fatty acids block full glucose oxidation. Polyunsaturated free fats amplify stress. Saturated free fats end stress signals. Carbohydrate availability stops lipolysis. See Randle cycle, Saturated fat, Linoleic acid.

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Start with Mitochondria and CO2. Then Thyroid, Glucose, Stress. Fats: PUFA, Free fatty acids, Randle cycle. Barriers: Tissue leakiness. Soviet systems view: Soviet medicine, Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin.

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Ray Peat, "Leakiness, aging, and cancer," raypeat.com.
  2. ↑ Leakiness, aging, and cancer, Ray Peat newsletter
  3. ↑ Ray Peat, "Serotonin: Effects in disease, aging and inflammation," raypeat.com.
  4. ↑ Ray Peat, "Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context," raypeat.com.
  5. ↑ Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context, Ray Peat newsletter
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 See fatigue and coconut-oil lines in Peat newsletters; Coconut oil, PUFA.
  7. ↑ Speakman JR, Talbot DA, Selman C, et al., "Uncoupled and surviving: individual mice with high metabolism have greater mitochondrial uncoupling and live longer," Aging Cell. 2004;3(3):87-95. PMID 15153176.